


The Cake

by drake_the_ice



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Birthdays, Gen, M/M, Nate is still in the orphanage, Pre-Uncharted 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 13:06:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13365312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drake_the_ice/pseuds/drake_the_ice
Summary: It's Nathan Morgan's thirteenth birthday and he's stuck spending it in Saint Francis' Boy's Home. How could his brother Sam have forgotten?





	The Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InkyJustine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyJustine/gifts).



> A birthday gift for my dear friend Nathamuel! Continuing the trend of Nathan's birthdays for your birthday xD I was aiming to write something shippy but the babs came out instead.. hope you enjoy!

He couldn’t have forgotten. No, Nate corrected himself, he hadn’t forgotten. He was late getting off work, planning a big surprise, stuck in traffic. There was no way that he could have forgotten what today was.

And yet, as Nathan Morgan, twelve years and three-hundred-and-sixty-four-days-and-ten-hours old, sat with one elbow resting on the windowsill in the dorm of Saint Francis’, he wondered if maybe Sam really had forgotten his birthday. 

His brother hadn’t made any promises, of course, when he’d stopped by earlier that week. The fact that he was in town at all was merely a coincidence – he could flit between four cities in just as many days when he was searching for his next job. He tried to always stay within the state lines, close enough to get back to Nathan within a day, but disappearing for months at a time was not uncommon either – those occasions usually came with the excuse that he was “just doing it for you, Nathan.” 

“Just doing it for you, Nathan” had gotten old real fast. How could his brother be doing anything for him if he was still stuck in this dumb orphanage? If he had really cared, he would have gotten him out by now. He was nearly thirteen! 

Somewhere at the other end of the building, an old clock chimed for eleven o’clock. No use waiting for him now, Nate told himself. Sam never came at this time of night; it was too difficult to hide a dorm light from the nuns when everyone was supposed to be in bed. 

He was just about to switch the lights off when the sound of a pebble hitting his window caught his attention. Allowing himself no time to think, Nate flew to the window and threw it open. Down below, looking mightily proud of himself, his big brother was waiting for him with a large box in his arms. 

Nate didn’t bother changing clothes: he scaled down the drainpipe that ran down to the ground from his window in his pajamas, arriving at Sam’s feet in record time. Sam barely had time to say “happy birthday, Nathan” before Nate had thrown himself at him in a huge embrace.

“You didn’t forget!” 

Sam scoffed, “When have I ever forgotten?” Nate had to give him credit – no matter how far away he travelled, he always seemed to make it home in time.

Sam’s appearance alone quickly forgotten, Nate moved his focus to the large box in his brother’s arms. “Is that for me?”

“Sure is!” Sam held it up, “Why don’t you open it right here?” He didn’t need to be told twice – Nate lifted the lid of the box while it was still in Sam’s arms to peek in at the contents.

“It’s a cake?”

“Aw give me some credit, don’t you recognize it?” Nate looked again. It was round with a dark blue icing and a two silver numbers emblazoned on the surface – a one and a three. Sticking out from the top on short skewers were colored stars in varying ranges of blue and grey: the star tasted earth-shatteringly sweet when Nate reached out to nibble on one. 

Nate certainly did recognize it. It had been impossible to forget walking past that shop window with Sam. They'd been walking through an expensive part of town – a shortcut back to the orphanage – when they had passed a cake shop. It had been one of those cake shops that had a whole row of perfect-looking sweets in the window - immaculate even though they must have been sitting out in the sun for hours. 

Nate hadn’t been able to resist a peek in the window, and that’s when he’d seen it. A perfect blue birthday cake - seemingly made just for him! He couldn’t remember ever having a cake for his birthday, even though Sam insisted that he’d gotten a party just like every other child when he was a baby. Birthdays at the orphanage since then, however, had never turned up anything more than a jam sandwich for dessert – even asking for a cupcake was out of the question.

And yet here Sam was, holding the exact cake he’d seen in the window!

“How could you afford it?” Nate asked with wide eyes. That shop hadn’t been cheap – he’d known that by the speed in which Sam steered him away from the display. Had Sam gone back after he’d dropped him off at the orphanage, or maybe a few weeks later? He must’ve saved up a little bit of his pay-slip at a time, biding his time until Nate’s birthday arrived.

Sam shrugged.

“Anything for my kid brother – though, I guess you’re not going to be a kid much longer, are you? Boy it’s nearly midnight. Sorry I’m so late; the cake wouldn’t fit on the back of my bike so I had to walk here instead. I had to leave my bike outside the store, but I guess in an area like that you don’t need to worry, huh?”

Being careful not to disturb the box that Sam was holding, Nate wrapped his arms around his brother again. Already it was a great day, and he wasn’t even thirteen yet! He felt Sam chuckle.

“Now, are you going to help me eat this cake or what?” Nate didn't have to be asked twice.


End file.
